


Innocence Lost

by Winterironsoldier



Series: She-Ra Mini Ficlets [3]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Episode 4 centric, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-29
Updated: 2018-11-29
Packaged: 2019-09-02 00:40:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16776157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winterironsoldier/pseuds/Winterironsoldier
Summary: It's Adora's first night in the castle and it's nothing but rattling for her horde-trained senses.





	Innocence Lost

Adora swiped her loose strands back behind her ear. For the first time since she entered the Whispering Woods, she was alone.

She can already feel the loneliness already settling in and gnawing at a place behind her ears. The only sound in this room- her room- is from the waterfall.

There is no Catra here to fill the empty room with vibrant laughter and mocking jabs about her performance in the ruins. And that hurt the most.

She rebelled against the Horde and Catra didn't. Simple and done. They're enemies now. 

It doesn't feel simple and done though. Nothing between her and Catra was simple, especially the ache in her chest that she felt every time Catra grinned at her. The only grins from here on out would be sadistic ones. None of the friendly, ear-splitting ones that she's accustomed to after nearly sixteen years by her side.

A sigh left her as the door clicked shut behind herself and she approached her new bed as if it were one of the training models out to kill her. Hell, who knows, it could be.

As she got closer, she fixated on the obnoxiously billowy curtains and the red and pink pillows that made up the bed. Everything was bright and colorful here, everything that the cadet bunks had never and will never be. Whether that was a bad thing or a good thing, she wasn't sure just yet. 

She sinks into her new bed- the stark contrast from the hard mattress of her cadet days hits her just as soon as the marshmallow velvet swallows her up. It was cushiony and soft, definitely very uncomfortable. How could any of the princesses and uh, Bow, be comfortable in something so soft? 

Her muscles were starting to relax and a warning signal blared loud in her mind as she rolled out of the bed, hitting the floor with a pathetic slap. Her body was on high alert again and she released a sigh. That could have been dangerous.

If she allowed herself for even a seconds rest then she could quickly find herself speared at the end of a sword. Even if this wasn't the garrison, she still had enemies all around if the whispers of the castle dwellers were anything to go by. No, she wasn't safe here. Especially in a room that was labeled as being hers.

What would Catra do if she was in this position? Too bad that she couldn't exactly ask her for advice anymore.

She rose up on her shaky legs and stomped one of her feet as if that would shake the nerves from her. It worked, sort of. She wasn't trembling anymore at least. She fixed her belt, jingling her unsheathed sword as she did and she started back down the hall to Glimmer’s room. 

Guards eyed her warily as she went by them and the whispering started again. She could hear their cruel, but not unbidden words follow her like the dark shadows of the Shadowweaver down the hall. They were arrows and the target was behind her ribs; her heart. They didn't miss her heart by even an inch, they were dead on.

Finally, she reached the door and she edged her way inside, making sure to move as quiet as her boots would allow her to. She could do this. One step, two step and…

She stopped short and glanced to the bed on the floor. No Glimmer. That bed looked just as bad as the bed in her own room and she didn't dare approach it. No, she fixed her sights on the hanging cushion. It was held up like a birdcage, that would help defeat the cushiony part of it, right?

Well, there was only one way to find out. 

She climbed, scaling the wall bit by bit until she was level to the birdlike chandelier bed. She reached a leg out first- Nope, no luck there. She was more than a bit too far away to just edge her way in there. At this kind of instance, Catra would leap and hope that her feline aspect would do the rest of the work for her. But she didn't have Catra's enhanced abilities and she didn't have She-Ra's either.

She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and leaped. The near instantaneous feel of cool velvet on her arms had her opening her eyes and sighing. It had been more than worth the risk of falling and breaking a rib if the hard padding of the bed was anything to go by.

Catra…

What would she be doing right now? Acting rebellious against Shadowweaver? Fighting with comrades? Or was she staring up at the ceiling and thinking of her as well?

She could only imagine how the feline was feeling right now. She probably felt betrayed and abandoned, just like she did. This whole mess was sticky and she rolled on her side, facing the sleeping princess beside her. 

Glimmer’s lashes fluttered in her sleep and drool left her small lips. As opposed to her normal rebellious attitude, her sleeping one was cute and… strikingly innocent. Not even Catra managed that in her sleep.  
Even before they were cadets, that innocence was doused from them by Shadowweaver herself in the hopes of making them into better soldiers, and it worked, mostly.

She sighed once more and her eyes finally fell shut, letting her thoughts ease her into an uneasy slumber.


End file.
